Continuation of: I'm Stuck in a House Full of Girls
by TrainerJoe
Summary: The original story, I'm Stuck In a House Full of Girls, was one of my favorites ever, but it never got finished. After 2 years of looking at Chapter 33 with no update, I have decided to continue it, I'm sure it is what hellfire15 would have wanted. This story is too good to never be finished!
1. Chapter 34: The Morning After

**Please Read First:**

With what has apparently happened to hellfire15, someone needs to continue this great story. Too many people like me are hooked on the adventures of Lucas to just accept that it will never be finished.

I am in NO WAY trying to replace hellfire15 by claiming that this is the official continuation of the story. This is simply my split; my continuation of the story and I will try to stay as true as I can to the characters as I can.

Once again, I am not trying to claim this to be official canon to the story that hellfire started. It's just for the fans that wanted

Anyway, its my first story, so I will try my best to update promptly, hopefully at least every other week. This all, of course, depends on how the readers like this.

Oh, almost forgot! Who do you think I should pair Lucas with when it comes to it? I'll put a poll up on my page, I want to see your opinions.

**I'm Stuck in a House Full of Girls by hellfire15:**

**Continuation by TrainerJoe**

**Chapter 34: **

Gloria stirred in her sleep and slowly tried to open her eyes. Blinking a few times to adjust her eyes to the light, she suddenly felt a throbbing pain in her head.

"Uugh…" She groaned, feeling the hangover from the previous night's drinking.

Despite the pain the Glaceon was in, she decided that it was time to awaken. Still groggy, she made an effort to sit up in the bed, before realizing that something was holding her down. Blinking a few more times and rubbing her eyes, she finally managed to bring what was around her into focus.

Not remembering what had happened the previous night, she was greatly surprised to realize that she was not in her room. And that surprise turned into shock when she felt an arm around her waist.

Quickly turning around, she found Lucas lying there, fast asleep. However, it was only then that the Glaceon noticed that her nightgown was unbuttoned.

Given the circumstances, it was unsurprising that the possibility popped into her head. 'We didn't… did we? I mean, we were both drunk, and I don't even remember last night…' Blushing madly, she tried to decide whether or not to wake up the sleeping jackal, knowing that it would only embarrass him greatly, but she knew that she could not stay forever. But truly, she wanted to stay, causing somewhat of a dilemma for the poor Pokemon.

Glancing over at the clock, she noticed that it was already 10:00AM, unnerving her even more. 'Someone will come looking for him, it's not normal for him to sleep past 7:00, so they will know something is wrong.'

As she was about to shake him awake, she heard a sound that sent a jolt of surprise through her body. A knock was heard at the door, followed by a voice she recognized as Lily's. "Lucas? Lucas are you awake? I can't find Gloria!" She sounded slightly worried, making Gloria a bit guilty.

However, it was just then that Lucas began to stir. Groaning as he came to his senses, he moved his hand to rub his throbbing headache. However, he got a jolt of surprise when he saw a half naked Glaceon lying with him.

"Gaah!" he cried out, reaching for his nose that was already beginning to bleed. Gloria wondered why for a split second as she silenced him, before realizing that she had never actually re-fastened her clothes.

"We'll figure out what happened last night in a second," she whispered to him blushing madly as she fastened up her nightgown. "But first, you have to get Lily away from the door."

"I see." He replied, now a bit more calmly, but his face still seemed a bit red. "Hide in the bathroom, I'll take care of it." He did not want anyone to get the wrong idea, knowing the circumstances…"

"Lucas? Are you even in there?" It was the voice of Lily once again.

"Go." He whispered at her, pointing to the bathroom.

As Gloria retreated behind the shut door, Lucas opened his front door, pretending to be much more hung over than he really was.

"L-Lily?" He asked. He was actually quite surprised at how un-intoxicated she looked at the moment. Or maybe it was because he had drunk quite a few more cans than she had.

"Lucas?" She asked, her tone growing a bit softer, "How do you feel? I remember you drank a ton last night." She giggled.

"Umm… I honestly don't remember much of what happened last night…" He faked a groan. "Do you need anything?"

"When I woke up this morning, she wasn't in the room." It was then she noticed a slight trail of blood dripping out of the Lucario's nose, which probably didn't look good.

Lucas noticed her gaze fixed on his nose and inwardly cursed his bad luck. "No, I haven-"

**Crash!**

They both heard the sound come from the bathroom.

"… What was that?" She asked Lucas, who was now struggling to maintain his composure.

"… That was, uhh…. my… It must have been… my bag!" The girl eyed him skeptically. "It was… sitting on the edge of the tabletop. The heat of the shower must have made it fall somehow. I was about to shower when you knocked." He prayed to Arceus that she would buy it.

"Okay…" Lily said, though she did notice that he was acting rather weird. However, she just blamed it on his hangover. However, she could not explain his sigh of relief when she said it. "I'm going to go keep looking for Gloria."

"Alright. I still have to shower off this feeling, if you don't mind. See you soon."

He began to close the door, until he heard, "Wait!" He swung it back open to find her standing there, with a light red tinge on her face. "What do you say we go for lunch somewhere, just the two of us?"

Though Lucas saw the hint that it was a date, he decided to play it casually. "Sure, sounds fine to me, as long as I'm feeling better by then." He said with a small smile.

"Great!" She said, maybe a little too loud. Now it was her turn to be the uncomfortable one as he gave her an odd look. "I mean, okay! I'll stop by your room at noon and we'll go find a restaurant."

"Sounds good." He said, starting to close the door once again.

"Oh, and Lucas?"

"Hmm?"

He opened the door one last time, only to find her get on her toes and give him a quick peck on the lips. She then turned and walked away without a word, leaving a stunned and red faced Lucario behind.

Shaking his thoughts back to reality after a few seconds, Lucas knocked on the door to the bathroom. Gloria cracked the door and asked, "…Is she gone?"

"Yeah, you're clear." He said, hoping she had not seen the kiss.

"Thank goodness…"

"What was that crash?" The ice-type looked at him with guilty eyes.

"I forgot to turn on the light when you first shut the door, and while I was trying to find it in the dark, I knocked over this mirror. I'm really sorry!" She said truthfully

Lucas studied the mirror. "It doesn't seem to be broken, so at least I won't have to pay for it. Don't worry about it." He spoke with a smile on his face, placing it back on the bathroom counter.

When he returned to the small room, she took him into a hug, which took him off guard. He reciprocated it anyway, though, enjoying the feeling. "Thank you for forgiving me so easily, you're so kind."

"… And Gloria," Lucas looked her straight in the eye, though the smile was now gone. "I'm only starting to partially remember what happened last night. We didn't… you know… right?" He had an easily visible shade of red on his face.

A deep red faced Gloria, greatly embarrassed by the awkward topic responded, "I remembered what happened while I was hiding. And no, we didn't. I was giving you a massage, the kind with the coldest part of my body…"

Lucas sighed in great relief, understanding it all now.

"Oh… I see. I was afraid we had… you know what, never mind. Lets just forget this ever happened, okay."

"Absolutely," the girl responded happily, "We'll never speak of it again."

Then Lucas cleared his throat. "Umm… you should probably leave, Gloria. Not that I don't want you here, but I have to get cleaned up and your sister is still looking for you," he told her with an apologetic smile.

"It's okay, I understand." Gloria began to walk towards the open door. However, she stopped next to him, and she too unexpectedly pecked him on the lips, stunning the poor boy once again. "Thank you, Lucas." She said, and at that walked away with a great smile on her lips.

Shaking himself back to reality for the second time now, Lucas started back inside again, before stopping to watch the girl as she walked away.

Sighing to himself, he thought, 'Lee is right… I'm going to have to choose eventually…' Lucas walked back into his room and heated up a shower.

'Gloria…'

_Some Time Later_

Lucas was rummaging through his luggage; he needed to decide what to wear for his lunch. After a few minutes of thought, he gave up and just decided to go casually, it's not like he brought dress clothes to the beach anyway. He decided on his regular shoes, some gym-style shorts, and a tank top: he didn't want the heat getting to him. He really never put much thought into how he dressed; truth be told he just wore what he liked and thought went well on him. Just as he finished dressing, he heard a knock at the door.

Lucas opened the door to find his perverted friend, Lee.

"Hey, Lucas!" the Likilicky said with a grin that was a bit too big for Lucas's liking.

"Hey, Lee." Lucas spoke carefully, trying to figure out why he was here. "Do you know what everyone is doing today?"

"The eevee sisters are down at the beach, most of them are just relaxing again. They were all pretty hung over when they woke up, especially little Umber. All except Lily, have you seen her?"

"Well…" Lucas seemed to speak carefully.

"Well what? Don't tell me she's in here with you…" he said suggestively, his smirk only enlarging.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," Lucas said annoyed. "We're going to go to lunch together soon, so she is probably getting ready."

"Like a date? So you chose her?"

"…Well yes and no. It's kind of a date, but I haven't chosen yet. Oh, and please don't tell Gloria… seeing as the competition they are in now, something like this would really not help anything."

Rather surprisingly to Lucas, Lee grew serious. "Sure, I'll stay quiet. Have you given it much thought?"

Having recovered his memory after his hangover receded, Lucas recalled the conversation. "I just need some more time to think. Just choosing a girl is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. And they're starting to get a bit more bold," he said with a chuckle, remembering how both had kissed him before leaving.

"And that's why I'm here for you," Lee reassured him, patting his friend on the back.

"Thanks, Lee." The blue jackal smiled at his big friend.

"Do you have one that you are the most interested in?"

"That's just the problem," Lucas sighed, "I like them all, but I can only choose one."

"I gotcha," the tongue Pokemon laughed, "Hey, when is your date anyway?"

"It's in… five minutes!?" Lucas exclaimed, distressed, "Sorry Lee but you have to go now!"

After pushing his large friend out the door, Lucas cleaned his room quickly; the large Pokemon had accidentally made quite a mess by knocking things over in the tight room. He worked just up until he heard the knock at the door.

"Hey Lily, you ready?" He asked her with a smile.

"Of course," she said, blushing as she noticed his rather well toned muscles due to his tank top, "Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"Hmm… how about seafood? I saw some good looking fish houses around here."

"Sounds great to me!"

…

The two made their way along the beach, passing other beachgoers as they walked. Lucas led Lily by hand along the shoreline, causing many men to look disappointed when they thought that Lily was 'taken', causing the Lucario to smirk. Lily, on the other hand, did not notice the men, she was enjoying herself chatting with Lucas.

The lunch went very well, and the food was no exception. Even though Lucas knew he could probably do the dish a better way, he had greatly enjoyed his fried Magikarp fillet. Lily had decided on a smaller fillet of Febass, which she enjoyed greatly. They talked about anything and everything, it was great just to get away from everything and relax, even if only for an hour.

And the whole time, Lucas couldn't help but think that she really looked beautiful.

'Lily…'

_Later That Afternoon_

Back in his room that afternoon, Lucas was taking a short break from the beach volleyball he had been playing with the eevee sisters, it had been quite awkward for him since Gloria and Lily were taking this rivalry thing pretty seriously. So instead, he decided to unwind in his room and think about the decision that he knew that he'd have to make soon.

'Gloria…' he smiled at the thought of the kind, loving, not to mention beautiful Glaceon.

'Lily…' he smiled once again at the thought of the shy, but very friendly, and also very beautiful Leafeon.

'Gardenia…' he pictured the loyal, expressive Gardevoir, who too, was incredibly beautiful.

For some reason, he heard the words of Lee echo in his head once again.

_You do want to choose soon, Lucas, since once they get tired of your indecisiveness, they will give up on you."_

Sighing, he muttered, "How am I ever going to choose?"

**So that was Chapter 34 of the whole plot, but it was Chapter 1 of my continuation. Please review, I really want to know what you think of my use of the characters. I understand that this chapter might have been slightly boring, but I promise you. It's going to get good pretty soon. And also, I could use a beta reader, just if anyone is interested… otherwise I'll just do it myself. **

**Also, tell me about the length of the chapters… do you want them longer of shorter? Once I know, I can adjust to your preferences, like many small updates or occasional huge updates. This chapter was a little short in my mind, only 2.5k words.**

**Don't be afraid to tell me how I can improve! This is my first fanfic after all.**

**I hope you enjoyed, and maybe I will see you next time!**


	2. Chapter 35: Return to Reality

**Author's Note:**

Here's that update, and it's much longer too!

So I really enjoyed writing last chapter. Actually getting some positive feedback felt, well, really good! I was so happy to see that people enjoyed it that I worked hard to get this chapter out. I'm trying hard to get better at my descriptions, so bear with me. :) Catch up with you at the end of the chapter!

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own Pokemon or the original plot of the story, those belong to Nintendo and hellfire15, respectively.

**I'm Stuck in a House Full of Girls! By hellfire15**

**Continued by TrainerJoe**

**Chapter 35: Return to Reality**

The rest of the vacation had really been quite a blur for our favorite Lucario. The confused fellow had been severely wrapped up in his thoughts for most of the time he was not having fun with the Eevee sisters, so it all seemed very fast. Lost in his thoughts about his love life once again, the car ride home felt rather short; they were almost already home.

Unlike him, though, the sisters and Lee were still talking amongst themselves, trying to pass the time on the boring ride home. It was pretty disappointing for most of them to go from a paradise during spring break straight back to school tomorrow.

"I wish we could've stayed at the beach longer." Umber was talking to her sisters with a sad tone to her voice. "I don't want to go back to school yet!"

"Yeah," Flannery agreed, "It's really disappointing to know that this was our last break until Summer vacation."

"Hey, come on! We can always go back to the beach when Summer comes around." Lee tried to keep his friends positive.

"Lee's right," Esper, being the oldest wanted to break the downtrodden attitude in the car. "It's only one grading period left until Summer break."

With a groan, Vanessa was clearly not seeing things the same way. "Do you know how long a grading period is? Nine whole weeks!"

"Its ok, guys." Gloria smiled. "This year has really gone fast in general. It's been so much more interesting having Lucas around." That comment earned her an annoyed glance from Lily, for the competition for Lucas had caused them to be a little cold around each other. Gloria smirked back while Lily turned back towards the window of Lee's limousine. Lucas, though, seemed completely unaware that he was being talked about. He was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even been listening.

"So my dad opened up a new chain of restaurants…" Lee started to ramble proudly, though it lost the interest of Gloria, who turned to the distracted steel-type next to her.

"Hey," She said, elbowing him lightly to wake him from his thoughts, "You've been awfully quiet, is something on your mind?"

Snapping from his thoughts, Lucas turned his red eyes that she loved to admire to look at her.

"It's nothing really, I've just been a little disappointed the vacation ended so quickly." He looked at her, though that was not what he was actually thinking about.

"Yeah, me too." Gloria smiled back. "But I feel like it will be good to get back. Like they say, there's no place like home!" she giggled.

Lucas grinned at her appreciatively; he could always count on the cheerful ice-type to see the bright side of anything.

"You know what, you're right. It's not like I don't enjoy being at your place, it's really like a second home for me."

Lucas glanced out the window, noticing that they were passing the school, telling him they were getting close to home.

"Well, except of course, that you are technically our butler." Gloria laughed at him, lightly punching his arm. "So that means back to the chores for you!"

"Eh, butler work at your house is not that hard, anyway. It's actually easier than just chores at mine." He said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"But when we visited, your family seemed so nice!" She said, grabbing his hand.

"Well, you saw how my dad treats anyone except for me. That old man makes me do anything he can think of… its almost like he just tries to find jobs so that I can be doing something." Lucas whined with slight dislike in his voice, causing Gloria to giggle at his misfortune.

However, it was just then that they pulled up to the Eevee sister's house. Stopping in front of the walk, Lee opened the door to the limo and got out to help the ladies out of the car, what a gentleman! …Right?

"Thanks for everything, Lee." Esper thanked their big friend for all the sisters. "This was one of the best breaks ever."

"It was not a problem, really!" Lee grinned down at her. "I _really_ enjoyed myself as well."

Lucas frowned upon hearing that, being the only one that actually knew that he was referring to his fun with the hidden cameras.

"Oh, Lucas, could you take my bag in for me?"

"Oh, me too!"

"And mine!"

"Ok, ok, I'll just get them all." The annoyed voice of Lucas said, experiencing quite a case of déjà vu.

As he started to pick up a couple of bags, the girls started towards the house. It took him a minute, but he managed to get all seven bags in his hands at once, though some were balancing rather precariously. Just as he was getting ready to head for the house, something made him lose his balance.

"**AHHH! EVERYTHING'S RUINED!"**

Jumping in surprise, Lucas did not even have time to think about what she meant before he hit the ground back first, with all the bags falling on top of him. Growling in annoyance, he looked over to the source of the distraction.

"That doesn't sound good." Lee laughed at his friend's misfortune while helping him back onto his feet. "Sounds like you're going to have some work today."

"Get out of here, Lee." Lucas had enough of his antics over the vacation.

"Alright, alright, I'll see you tomorrow at school."

With that, the Lickilicky hopped back into his limo and it drove off, leaving Lucas to pick up the pile of bags and head back towards the door. However, he was not prepared for what he was about to see.

"You won't believe this," Lily said, opening the door for Lucas.

"Won't believe what?" Lucas asked, placing the bags down once he entered, only to look around in disbelief.

The whole downstairs was a wreck. Lucas did not believe his eyes at the mess he saw; it was hell on earth. The sisters were also just standing near the doorway, clearly in shock as well. There were bite marks all over the staircase, the carpet was torn in multiple locations, there was red hair all over the living room couch, and what looked like animal droppings and food all over the floor, and that was just one room.

Even little Umber was just silent in disbelief, and it did not occur to anyone what could have happened until a certain puppy walked down the hall into their sight. Holding none other than a black pair of what they all instantly knew was panties.

And the silence was broken by a furious Lucas, who muttered only three words.

"That… Damn… Dog!"

* * *

That evening, after a full day of cleaning up the massive mess that Lucky had made, carrying the girls bags upstairs, unpacking, cooking, and eating dinner, Lucas was relieved to be doing his last task of the day: washing the dishes. As usual, Esper helped him, but they were in an unusual silence this time.

Lucas was thinking about how much he hated that dog... he had already devised a few plans to get rid of it. The poor Lucario had spent nearly all day cleaning the massive mess that the "innocent," according to Flannery, puppy had made. He also thought about his usual girl dilemma, as it basically could not escape his mind.

"What's on your mind, Lucas? You're so quiet." Esper asked as she finished drying a plate and put it on the already very tall stack.

But Lucas didn't respond to the girl, it was almost as if he hadn't heard her.

"Lucas?" But the Lucario didn't flinch; he just kept scrubbing the pot that he had used for stew as if he was an automaton.

"Lucas!" Esper spoke a little louder, finally getting a response.

"Huh?" He asked, snapping from his thoughts.

"What's going on, you seem so distant, usually we chat the whole time we work." Esper now seemed a little concerned for the butler that had become like a little brother to her. "If something's bothering you, I can try and help."

Hesitating at first and glancing around the room to make sure there would be nobody listening to them, but he saw no one. Sighing, he decided that there was no problem with talking with her about his situation. Finishing the last pot, he took off his gloves and leaned against the counter before looking at her and responding.

"Well… A lot has been on my mind recently. But first off, I think its time we do something about Lucky. That dog needs to go." Lucas was clearly very unhappy about having to clean all day on his first day back. He hadn't been able to enjoy a minute of his day; it was all spent working.

Esper let out a sigh. "I was thinking the same thing, but you know how protective Flannery is of him."

"I know." Lucas frowned, remembering how Flannery refused to acknowledge that the mess was Lucky's doing. "But he's been making my life hell. And I don't think you guys like your underwear getting stolen either."

"Yeah, I think I'm going to have to talk to her. She needs to understand that taking care of a dog is a real responsibility, something she has never experienced before." Esper giggled at her sister's slight immaturity.

"So what, are we going to find him a new home?"

"I guess we have to."

"Well, whoever takes him will surely just _love_ him," Lucas spoke, his voice dripping with sarcasm, earning a giggle from Esper. "Well I guess I'm going to get to bed."

"Wait, not until you've really told me what you were really thinking about." Gloria spoke, her voice suddenly getting stern.

"W-What do you mean?" Lucas asked confused; how could she know?

"Don't play dumb with me, I can feel that something is bothering you." Esper smirked evilly at him.

"How would you know what I'm thinking?" Lucas was skeptical.

"I don't know, it's almost like I'm a psychic or something!" Esper laughed at him, Lucas couldn't help but chuckle at her jab as well.

"You can tell me. You're like my little brother, Lucas." the Espeon encouraged him to talk to her, even though she was pretty sure what he was going to say.

"I…" he started to come up with an excuse, but stopped himself. There wasn't any sense in denying it anymore. Blushing slightly, he admitted defeat. "Ok, so I have a problem."

"What kinds of things?" Esper poured him and herself a soda.

"W-Well, you probably know about my whole situation with Lily and Gloria." Lucas looked at the floor while Esper nodded sympathetically; she had a pretty good idea of what was going on. "And Gardenia as well… Lee thinks I have to choose one of them soon."

"Why would he say that?" The older Espeon frowned, handing him the drink. He nodded at the Eevee-loution appreciatively.

"He thinks that if I wait to long, they will all lose interest. I think he's actually right for once."

"I see. And you don't know who to choose?"

"No, but I'm doing my best to decide. I've really given it serious thought."

"Why not Lily?"

Lucas eyed her as he took a sip of the drink. "Why would you say that?"

"I don't know," Esper shrugged. "I mean, you risked your life to save her's twice."

"…I don't know if I'd call it that, I mean, the police could have-"

"No, Lucas." Esper responded, looking deep into his red eyes. "If you hadn't have saved her, I…" She paused for a moment. "Who knows what would have happened?"

Lucas didn't know how to respond, her words were true. Those men were about to kill Lily right as he showed up.

"But you saved Gloria from death too. She would have probably died if you hadn't have jumped to save her as well. And that really says a lot about you."

Lucas took a moment to take in what she said. His route of escape from these kinds of thoughts had always just been, 'I would have done it for anyone.' But he knew she was right; he wouldn't just trash his life for anyone. He just had to find out who he wanted.

"Lucas, what I'm saying is, you are literally their hero. I know they both really love you, and I want the best for all three of you."

Since Lucas did not respond, Esper gave him a few seconds to soak it all in. He seemed to be reflecting on what she had said.

"You know," she continued, thoughtfully, "Gloria actually came to me for help as well."

"Really? When?"

"Just after we got home and you were still back at your home. She really missed you, Lucas. And even though I haven't spoken to Lily or Gardenia for that matter, I'm sure they really do too."

"Why me? Why does this always happen to me?" He asked, seriously. "I always thought getting girls would be hard, but for a different reason."

"It's simple, really." Esper smiled at the Lucario. "You've got it all."

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked with a frown.

"Think about it. You're kind, hard working, a great chef, modest, powerful in battle, and heroic if the situation calls; and to top it off, good looking."

Lucas was stunned; he'd not really considered himself all the things on that list, but it flattered him greatly.

"Wow, I'm honored that you think of me so highly."

"Of course, you're basically the little brother I never had."

Lucas was going to respond, but a yawn escaped his mouth instead. Deciding that it was nearing time for bed, asked her one more thing.

"Esper, when I choose one of the three, the other two will really crash hard." He hated to think about it even though he knew it was true. "You don't think that either of them will hate me if I choose the other or Gardenia, do you?"

She didn't even need to think for a second.

"No. One thing I know for certain is that neither of them will ever hate you, unless you really step out of line."

Lucas heaved a sigh of relief. His biggest fear of picking one was mostly quelled now. All that was left to do was to try and decide.

"Just give it a little time." The Espeon smiled up at him. "You will eventually come around, I know it. Love can be hard your first time, but it is a test we all eventually pass. Just listen to the little hints that your brain gives you; you'll know before long."

Lucas was going to respond again, but another yawn prevented that. He rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed.

"Hehe, well I guess I should probably get to sleep. Thanks for the advice and the help with the dishes, Esper." Lucas smiled at her before starting for the door.

"Anytime, I know you worked really hard today. And I'll put an ad in the paper and talk to Flannery regarding Lucky."

He nodded at her before heading up the stairs to the bathroom for a cold shower.

After finishing and brushing his teeth, he wasted no time getting to sleep; the day of work had really exhausted him.

* * *

Sitting down in his tight classroom desk for the first time in a week, Lucas was surprised to find that it actually felt pretty good to be back. He had arrived a few minutes before the bell was to ring, so he had a couple minutes to himself. Only a couple of classmates, Patch the Pacharisu and the Absol, whose name Lucas always seemed to forget, were already in their desks. They started a quiet conversation, but Lucas didn't really care. He, as usual, was quietly lost in his own thoughts.

However, his moment could not last forever. The bell rang, snapping him from his thoughts as his classmates started to pour in. As usual, the fanboys went crazy when the two Eevee sisters walked in. Lucas waved at Lily and Gloria as they went to take their seats. He was actually a little surprised to see them talking happily with each other, had they put the rivalry behind them?

Next, Lizzie walked in, causing yet another wave of cheers from the fanboys, and more annoyance to Lucas. Enjoying the attention, she strutted over towards her desk in front of him. However, when she realized that Lucas was once again acting uninterested, it added to her frustration. However, she tried a different approach to him this time.

"Heyy Lucas!" Lizzie spoke in a seductive voice, earning Lucas's attention, but he did not really seem amused.

'Not this again…' he thought to himself, glancing around the classroom at all the jealous fanboys.

When she saw his blank look at her, she tried a wink and a cute smile. When she saw his look only deepen in confusion, it almost sent her over the edge. She felt her blood boiling before she finally had to vent the anger.

"Why are you so stubborn!? It's just YOU! What makes YOU so different from everyone else!?"

However, he just continued his blank stare, though he was inwardly smirking. He almost couldn't hold his laughter in when he saw her face twitching in anger. About to give in and laugh, a familiar voice saved him.

"Once again, my lovely lady, Lucas is one tough nut to crack."

"Oh, its _you _again… Hmmph!" Was her only response as she turned around and sat down in the seat in front of Lucas, finally admitting defeat. Lucas threw a thankful look at Lee, who nodded back while taking his seat nearby.

Just before the bell, Gardenia walked in and towards her seat behind Lucas. However, when she spotted the jackal her smile grew considerably and she quickly walked over towards her seat behind where he was sitting.

Noting her grin at him, Lucas decided it would probably be best for him to stand up to greet her. However, what happened was not exactly what he was expecting. Once she got close she ran the last few steps and leapt at him, taking him into a great hug.

"I missed you, Lucas." The Embrace Pokemon said blissfully, as she, well, embraced him. To her, nothing around them mattered.

Lucas, however, was not so carefree. Looking over her shoulders nervously while reciprocating the hug, he saw a lot of guys with their jaws dropped in shock, as well as Lily and Gloria, both of whom looked jealous. He glanced around angrily when he heard a wolf-whistle and an "Are you dating?", and decided that was enough. Lucas tried to let go, but Gardenia didn't budge.

"Gardenia," he whispered, "people are staring. I'm glad to see you too, but you have to let go."

When she finally did release him, he was shocked to see that her eyes had gotten a little teary. She had to mentally kick herself to stop her desire to get her bright, red eyes lost in his.

It would be fair to say that most spectators in the class were enjoying the awkward show, besides two Eevee-loutions, of course.

"I'm sorry, I just missed you so much-" she started.

But she was cut off when the instructor, Mr. Fisher, did his trademark desk slam right as the bell rang.

**SLAM!**

"I'm sorry," the Floatzel seethed, clearly not meaning it. All eyes were now on him. "Am I interrupting something?" The teacher looked very annoyed at the two, Gardenia still holding onto Lucas's arm.

"Uhh… of course not, sir." Lucas croaked out as he and Gardenia both quickly jumped into their seats, trying to avoid any punishment.

"We'll catch up sometime this week, ok?" Gardenia whispered to him with a wink as she sat down.

Lucas nodded back before turning his attention back to the teacher.

"Well," Fisher started, regaining his composure. "I hope you all enjoyed your break. However, I expect NOTHING less out of any of you than I did before the break. Now, lets begin."

The teacher glanced at his lesson plan as most of the students held their breath. They all hoped for battle practice, or even strategy lecture. At least those subjects were enjoyable for almost everybody. Just anything except-

"Today we will be learning Alkia Regional History!"

Lucas facepalmed as the class groaned in frustration; this was going to be a long first day back.

* * *

Lucas was relieved when the classes finally ended at five until noon that day. He _really_ hated history. It mystified him as to why the even needed to learn it at a Battle school, he would have gone to a different university if that's what he wanted.

The principal came on over the PA to give the usual end of the day announcements, but there was actually something that caught Lucas and the rest of his class's ears.

"_Students, in two weeks time we will be having our annual team battle against our arch-rival school, Fiore. We will be looking for the best talent for the team, so we encourage everyone interested to try out and practice."_

Upon hearing the words team battle, Lucas was already interested. He had always loved watching team battles on the TV since he was a little Riolu, but he had never had the chance to participate in one.

A team battle was a series of one on one skirmishes between two teams of six combatants. Though there six Pokemon on each team, only one from each side would fight at a time, and could tap in and out with any of his teammates. However, once one was knocked out, he was out for the rest of the battle.

"_All students are dismissed for the day."_ Lucas heard the voice on the intercom, and began to pack up his things.

* * *

After being released from class, he caught up to Lee.

"Hey, are you going to try out for the team battle squad?"

"Nah," the Tongue Pokemon responded as the Lucario walked beside him. "I know there are at least six people better than me in this school, it wouldn't be worth my time."

"Hey, come on, don't talk like that," Lucas patted him on the back. "I'm going to try out."

"Well you'll make it." Lee shrugged, just trying to be realistic. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were team captain. Besides, there's so much more fun to be had looking at some girls… why would I waste my time battling?"

Lucas rolled his eyes, typical Lee. "Well, I'm not so sure about that one…"

Lucas and Lee walked out the front doors and headed down the walk. However, as the neared the street , an idea popped into Lucas' head.

"Why don't we train together?" Lucas suggested, "We could both get stronger!"

However, the look on Lee's face didn't look too interested, as he glanced at the traffic and passerby's, trying to avoid Lucas's gaze.

"I have, uhh… some things to do for my dad!" Lee put on a sad face, but Lucas pretty much saw right through it. "Gotta go, sorry, Lucas!"

With speed that you could never expect from such a Pokemon, Lee's limo pulled up and he was inside, speeding away before Lucas could even respond.

'Well, I guess I'll have to train myself.' He thought.

"Hey Lucas!" He turned his head from his thoughts to Lily as she walked towards him along with Gloria. "We're going to walk home, wanna come?" She added a wink at the end which did not go unnoticed by the Lucario.

"Well," he tried to think of how to tell them "no" nicely, because he really wanted to train. The whole team battle idea was really exciting for him. "I'm thinking about going out for the battle team, so I sort of wanted to get some exercise and training in."

"That's great!" Gloria said happily, "We're both trying out, too. But I'm sure you're going to make the team, a couple of the guys were even saying you were probably going to be captain."

Shrugging, he replied. "That's what Lee said too, but I'm not so sure. Anyway, you can head back, even though my housework is exercise, I'd rather get some real hardcore work in. Is that alright with you?"

They both looked a little disappointed, but quickly shrugged it off because they knew that it was something that he really thought he needed.

"I mean, my opinion really doesn't matter here." Lily shrugged.

"Yeah, we understand." Gloria smiled at him. "Just please, be back by dinner. I'd really rather eat your cooking than Esper's."

"Ok, see you all later." He smiled, waving at them as they headed back to Esper, Flannery, and Vanessa to walk home.

After they had left, he set to business. While looking around the block for somewhere to train, preferably a gym, he noticed a sign that caught his eye.

_Alkia Library – Now with Pokemon Specialized Battle Guides_

'Specialized Pokemon Guides, huh?'

Looking back down the path to the Eevee's to his right, he wondered if they could manage without him for an hour or so that afternoon. However, the prospect learning something new about battles quickly got the better of him.

'Ehh, they'll be fine, I'll be quick.' He thought with a grin as he pressed the button on the stoplight stand, and started towards the Library to see if they had any books specializing in tactics for Lucarios.

* * *

That evening, after finishing dinner and the dishes and any other work was done, Lucas sat down on the bed in his room and started to read one of the three Lucario Combat Guides he had borrowed from the Library. He examined the titles of each three.

_Book One: Beginners – Basic Attacks and Tactics_

_Book Two: Intermediate – Predict Your Opponent's Moves, Learn Counterattacks_

_Book Three: Advanced – Learn to use Aura, Innovative Tactics, Counter-Elemental Moves._

Understandably, he wanted to jump straight to the third book, as the title was very enticing. He had only experienced his Aura in action a few times, usually in life or death situations, such as tracking Lily and feeling Gloria's danger. However, he knew that he should probably make sure he knew everything in the intermediate book first. Suppressing his wants, he picked up the intermediate book and started to thumb through the pages as he laid back in his bed.

However, just before he started reading, he heard his door open and he glanced up to see little Umber standing in his threshold.

"Big brother? Are you still awake?"

"Umber?" He responded curiously. Normally, he would be a bit annoyed if disturbed while studying, but he had really developed a soft spot for the little girl. "Do you need something?"

It was then he noticed that the Umbreon looked a little down. She was looking towards the ground and her yellow rings on her face were not glowing anywhere near their normal brightness.

"What's wrong, Umber?" He asked carefully. "Do you want to talk about something?"

She nodded and sat down on the chair across the room from him. He walked over to the mini-fridge his parents had sent him as a gift and grabbed her a bottle of water. He handed it to her and she nodded thanks in reply.

"I…" she started, as she opened the top of the bottle. Not really knowing how to say what it was she wanted to, she just decided to blurt it out.

"You aren't going to leave us when the school year is over, are you, big brother?"

She eyed him with teary eyes, fearing his answer would be yes. Umber, too had become very attached to Lucas. She looked up to him as a big brother and would be floored to see him leave.

The question caught Lucas off guard, he hadn't really considered it himself.

"You know, I haven't really thought about that," he said, carefully. But he noticed her sad look and all his defenses from answering crumbled. "I mean, I'll probably go home for a while, but by now, you girls feel almost as much like my family as my real one does. I could never leave you for good."

Umber breathed a sigh of relief that she would not be losing her 'big brother'. However, she did not like how he continued.

"But," he said, "Whether or not I will be living here anymore depends on whether or not your dad decides to renew my job as a butler here."

"I guess I'll just have to see to that." The little Umbreon spoke with conviction, making Lucas chuckle at her antics.

"You should get to bed, Umber." Lucas told her, though he didn't like being the bad guy. "It's starting to get late."

"Aww, big brother, you're so lame!" Umber pouted with her arms crossed as she stood up and started for the door. "Thanks, though. I don't want to see you leave."

"And you won't have to." He smiled at her. "Now go to sleep, I have to study!"

"Ok, good night!" She grinned at him one last time before closing his door. Lucas heard her footsteps moving back towards her room.

Reaching back over to his nightstand, he picked up the intermediate book once again. He opened it and thumbed through a few chapters before noticing with some disappointment that there was not much in the book that he did not already know. There were lessons on the correct form for Force Palm, instructions on how to get the best Iron Claw, a beginners tutorial to Bone Rush, and much more; though none of it was anything he did not know already.

'Well, I guess that means I should skip to Advanced.' He thought with glee, he was so excited to learn to use Aura.

Opening the third book, he quickly realized that this was nothing like the other two. Instead of step by step instructions on what to do, it looked like a collection of old texts and ancient scrolls translated to modern language. Though it was not typically something that would interest him, it was the seal at the top of the first chapter that caught his eye.

It was an official seal of the ancient Aura Guardians, original masters of the aura. Lucas had heard legends about them in his history class, and it was the only part of the class that had ever interested him at all.

Now he was really interested. He'd always wanted to learn to use his aura, but his mother was never trained in using hers, so she couldn't teach him. He started reading.

The beginning was much like an introduction, explaining and defining Aura to be the life force that all creatures live off. It explained that only a few Pokemon -Lucario's, Togekiss', and Mienshao's evolutionary lines- were capable of mastering control of the energy. It also explained that a Pokemon's aura had a specific set strength, though those of the aforementioned species were generally much stronger. Even within the bounds of these species, individuals differed in power greatly, based on the strength of their aura.

Next was the first real instructional section. Lucas read the old, dusty pages to himself. They said that in order to use aura and any attacks or abilities involved, the Pokemon would first have to unlock them within their own mind. This could apparently only be done by rigorous meditation away from others.

Tearing his eves away from his book, Lucas checked the clock. To his surprise, it read 11:00 PM in red characters; he had been reading for a lot longer than he thought.

'Should I try it?' He thought to himself. 'All the sisters are probably asleep, but then again I do have school tomorrow…'

Lucas' self control couldn't last long, though. The prospect of success was too tempting for him, so he got up, grabbed a jacket out of his closet and a water bottle from the fridge, and snuck out the door with his book. After creeping down the stairs, carefully not to wake up any of the Eevee sisters, he left out the front door and headed for the park only a few blocks away.

It was odd, for him, to walk around the city at night. It was so… empty. No cars buzzed along the streets. The sidewalks were clear. He really enjoyed the silence.

After only a few minutes, he reached the park gates and walked in. The streetlamps lit his way as he scanned the small garden-like recreational area. He considered using a bench for comfort reasons, but remembered that the book stated that it should be done in nature, or at least as close as he could get. Seeing a big oak tree off to the left of the path near the center of the park, he decided that it was as good a spot as any.

Sitting down, he began the meditation session that the book had recommended. He started with breathing exercises. Lucas breathed heavily to slow his heartbeat as much as he possibly could, it took a few minutes until he was satisfied he had done it correctly.

He then began what the book made seem like the hard part. He was to focus on absolutely nothing around him, except for the very energy that kept him alive. Lucas tried to block out all the sounds and any distractions that he could, but nothing happened.

After 20 minutes of absolutely nothing happening, you could say he was growing a bit frustrated. Try as he might, he could not feel anything happening. The book told him to calm his thoughts and slow his heartbeat, and live in a state of peace, but it did not say for how long.

In the state of peace he was in, he started to let his mind wander.

'I wonder why this wont work,' he thought to himself, 'I'm doing it all just like the book says…'

The book had claimed that if he had done everything right, he would feel something. Supposedly it would be an unmistakable experience, though he had no idea what that meant. He recalled one of the lines from the book.

_You will be unable to advance any further in your Aura training until you master this meditation. It is absolutely crucial to supporting the use and harnessing of Aura to your wishes. Only move on once you have your unmistakable experience._

His thoughts trailed off for a second, but then a thought struck him.

'What if someone finds out I'm gone? What will they think? I sure hope that Gloria doesn-'

Before Lucas could finish the thought, he was cut off by the feeling of a small spark of energy coursing all throughout his body, sending tingling sensations to the ends of his fingers and toes. It was like nothing he had ever felt before, but what caused it?

Refocusing his thoughts, it felt… different. Lucas felt like the world was falling away from him for a brief moment. Everything seemed to go black, but remained that way for only a couple seconds.

Then, the stimulus tide shifted and he was brought back into reality, and felt as if he was burning with energy all over his body. He felt the appendages on the side of his head, that he normally had no control over, stand horizontally out beside his head.

When he looked around, he didn't see much out of the ordinary, except colors seemed a little, blue? However, when he looked down at himself, he got an absolute shock.

He could actually see his Aura coming off of him in wisps and tongues of blue flames. From his reading, Lucas knew that unless it was actively being used, aura was only visible in a state called aura-vision: a state where normal colors are washed out and aura is highlighted instead. While in this state and while using aura, even non-aura users can see the eyes glow blue, a contrast from their usual ruby.

However, the sensation was familiar. Lucas remembered when he was tracking Lily, the Aura he had followed looked similar, but much duller.

'Yes!' He thought, 'This must be Aura Vision! I've done it!'

He beamed across his face in a moment of absolute pride and bliss in himself, but it did not last. The first time one uses his aura, it is very draining. It is literally sucking the life force out of you to use it, so if you are not used to it, exhaustion comes fast.

As his breathing sped up to cope with the exhaustion, Lucas fell out of his state of focus, returning to regular vision. He just laid there for a few minutes, trying to recover his breath.

'That was… intense. I've never felt such power.' He grinned, 'I can't wait to learn to really manipulate it!'

Then he addressed something that had been bothering him a little ever since the experience ended.

'It started right as I thought of her… But why? Does the thought of her… calm me?'

Lucas would have stayed and thought about it for longer, but he was simply too exhausted. He was actually a bit fearful he could not make it home, for the experience was so draining. Pulling himself up off the ground he started the walk back home.

* * *

As he walked towards his room, Lucas experienced something he had never felt before. It was as if he could feel all six of the Eevee sisters in their rooms. It was like he could feel their heartbeats as his own, as if their presence was something tangible. It was an odd sensation.

'It must be their auras.' He thought happily. 'I'm already making progress. I may not be able to manipulate Aura yet, but I can see it and feel it.'

However, too tired to even continue his thoughts, Lucas fell flat on his bed and was out like a light, he had never been so exhausted in his life.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, please take a minute to review, you're feedback is very important to me for improvement and inspirational reasons. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and maybe I'll see you next time!**


	3. Chapter 36: Iron and Blaze

**Author's Note**

Thanks to all those who reviewed, I really appreciate your support. Also, getting reviews that suggest ways I can do things better really inspire me to write more and get chapters out faster.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'll catch up with you at the end of the chapter

**Disclaimer**

I don't own Pokemon or the original plot to this story, they belong to Nintendo and hellfire15 respectively.

* * *

**I'm Stuck in a House Full of Girls by hellfire15**

**Continuation by TrainerJoe**

**Chapter 36: Iron and Blaze**

* * *

_Lucas was riding the subway to school that day, and it was packed full of pedestrians. He'd never liked the underground trains; they discomforted him greatly. He just did not like so many Pokemon all in close proximity while tearing through underground tunnels, the thought really made him a little nauseous._

_Glancing to his left and right, he saw all the Eevee sisters talking to each other, seeming unbothered as he was by the experience. Gardenia had rode with them as well…_

_Why were they even riding the subway when the school was only three blocks away?_

_However, he didn't have time to consider it, as he heard a sound that sent shivers down his spine. The ground around them started to rumble and shake the train uncontrollably. People started to scream in fear as the train activated its emergency breaks. Lucas felt the intense G-forces as the train veered to a halt from its intense speed. It was as if all his fears of the underground bullet trains were crashing down on him at once._

_Someone in the train let out a scream._

'_EARTHQUAKE!'_

_Holding onto his hand hold pole, Lucas somehow managed to remain on his two feet, but that didn't help his dizziness. The intense rumbling didn't stop, it only increased. He could even start to hear cracking sounds that he recognized as fissures opening up in the tunnel._

_Finally Lucas understood what was happening. Regaining control of his senses, he looked around in horror to see almost everyone in the train had been thrown from their seats and had hit something; rendering most unconsious. And it was only going to get worse. _

_Lucas' fear turned to full panic when he noticed out the window that water was beginning to pour into the tunnel, some of it already starting to soak the floor of the train._

_He screamed at his friends to get up, they had to leave now or they would drown! But it was to no avail. They were all completely out cold, some of them with considerable injuries it seemed._

_He was about to start picking up the nearest sister to evacuate them from the train, but then he noticed something. The water level was rising rapidly. If he did not leave now, he might not even make it himself. A voice in his brain told him something he absolutely dreaded to hear._

'_You can only save one.' His gritted his teeth; not wanting to accept it._

"_NO! I'm going to save them! I HAVE to save them!"_

_But despite his resistance, the water was already up to his waist, it would soon reach the heads of all his friends that were unconscious in their chairs._

'_No…'_

_Lucas had never felt so helpless. He knew his mind was right. He could only save one. For the first time in a long time, he felt the tears begin to come. _

"_No, PLEASE! Someone help us!"_

_But there was no reply, just the loud rumbling and shaking of the Earth around him. He knew that he had to choose and go now, or they would all die. His eyes moved from Lily, to Gardenia, and finally to Gloria, all laying unconscious in their seats._

"_No… NO!"_

* * *

"NO!"

Lucas shot up in his bed in cold sweat, breathing heavily. His heart was pounding. Searching frantically, he scanned the house around him for the Eevee sister's auras. His glowing blue eyes located them all after a second, and he felt their heartbeats at the normal, slow pace.

Lucas let out a great sigh of relief as he leaned back on his pillow for a moment. It was only a dream.

Glancing over at his clock, he saw it was only five thirty in the morning, but after what he had just experienced, the last thing he wanted was more sleep. Throwing the covers off himself, he stepped out of bed and headed for the stairs.

'I'll make a big breakfast for them. That'll take my mind off of everything.'

However, Lily, who was only sleeping lightly, was awoken by the sound of Lucas' door; his room was right next to hers.

"What is he doing up so early?" Lily asked herself as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

She decided that it would be best for her to find out, so she only took a couple minutes making her presentable. The Leafeon didn't want to look bad in front of Lucas, but she didn't want to take forever either.

Glancing in the mirror and deciding that her hair was at least satisfactory, she started for the door. Trying to sneak down the stairs, she heard him in the kitchen. Guessing he was probably cooking, she snuck around to the door and peeked in, he had his back turned and was working at the stove.

"What are you doing up so early, Lily?" Lily was shocked, how could he have known?

Of course, Lucas had felt her as soon as she had awoken. He had just waited until she grew very near to call her out, so not to seem too weird.

"How did you know I was there?" Lily asked, dumbfounded, as she walked into the kitchen where she was met by a great aroma of eggs and toast.

Pausing from his work at the stove for a moment, he considered whether or not to tell her about his Aura. However, he decided against it when he thought that it would probably be a little strange if she knew that he could just feel her anywhere in the house.

"I heard you come down the stairs." He quickly came up with the lie, turning around to look at her. "Lucario have good sense of hearing."

"How did you know it was me?"

"I…" Lucas didn't really know how to respond. "I don't know. A good guess I suppose."

"Oh." She seemed a little disappointed that her plans to surprise him were thwarted, but she got over it pretty quickly. The emerald haired girl walked to his side and peered at the stovetop. "What's cooking?"

"Eggs, toast, hash brown, and maybe some other things. Depends on what I find in the fridge." Lucas replied, smiling at her. "You can just wait in the your room or at the table if you want. It's going to be a few minutes until they're ready." He went back to his work.

"Can I help you?"

"You don't have to do that… I mean it is my job after all." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. It seemed somewhat strange to still think of himself as a butler, he felt more like the brother that did all the chores.

"I want to help you." She grabbed his hand and looked up into his eyes, without really realizing what she was doing.

Lucas looked back into her light brown eyes, they were honestly very pretty and easy to get lost in. He might have done just that, but some aroma managed to snap him back to reality.

Looking over at the stovetop, the hash brown looked and smelled as if they were ready.

"Eh… Lily?" He broke her gaze on his face.

"Y-Yes?" She shook her head out of her small trance.

"I need you to let go of my hand. If I don't get the hash brown off the griddle now, they'll burn."

"Oh, sorry!" She released her two-hand grip on his right hand, looking away embarrassed.

"Could you grab me a serving plate?" Lucas asked her while he was moving about the kitchen, working so fast that Lily could not really keep track of what he was doing.

"Wait, you want me to help you?"

"What? You told me you wanted to." Lucas sweatdropped.

"Oh yeah," she laughed nervously while grabbing a plate. She kicked herself mentally for that screw up.

'Come on Lily, get it together!'

She handed him the big, plastic plate, and he nodded appreciatively. Lucas scooped the hash browns off the griddle and onto the plate, put some spice and seasoning on them, then handed it back to Lily.

"Could you put this on the table for me, please?" The Lucario smiled at her.

"Uh, sure." She walked out into the dining room, where there were already a few plates of food on the table. Taking a smell, she almost wanted to try one on the spot.

"Where should I put it?" She called back into the kitchen.

"Just anywhere, it doesn't really matter." Lily heard Lucas from the kitchen. "I'm almost done here."

It was then that the sisters started to come down. Umber came first, and was surprised to the feast that she walked into in the dining room. Looking around at the feast, she was a little confused. Lucas walked back into the dining room and took a seat at the table to wait for the sisters to come down.

"Wow, big brother and Lily, why did you make all this food? It looks great!" Umber took a seat next to Lucas with a smile. "What's the special occasion?"

Lucas patted her on the back. "Nothing, really. I just woke up early and decided to surprise you all." He didn't want to really think about the real reason he had made the food; to take his mind off that nightmare.

Then Vanessa and Flannery came down the stairs, and as usual with the two when Lucas would make a big feast, all hell broke loose.

"Woah! Lucas made a huge breakfast!" Vanessa cried in joy.

"Yeah! And it looks delicious!" Flannery was equally as excited.

This was pretty much standard since day one, though. They would go off the wall for a few minutes before calming down. Lucas was happy that they liked his cooking, but it got a little ridicules sometimes.

"Umm… shouldn't you guys wait for Esper and Gloria to-" Lucas tried to speak, but it was impossible to stop them, the twin sisters were already stuffing their faces. "Eh, never mind, then." He honestly wondered how they managed to keep such attractive figures with the appetites they had, but he would never ask them for fear of his life.

It was then that Esper and Gloria walked in, and were shocked to see all the food that had been prepared.

Taking her seat, Gloria asked, "Wow, Lucas, why the feast today?"

"Yeah," Esper agreed with her. "This looks really good, thanks Lucas."

Lucas just looked embarrassed. "I mean, it wasn't all me. Lily helped too. I don't deserve all the credit."

Lily just shrugged, she hadn't really helped that much. However, she did appreciate that Lucas tried to deflect some of the thanks to her.

"Modest as always." Gloria smiled at him. "Lets start, this looks great! I want to know if your breakfast is as good as your dinner."

At that, the rest of the family began eating, and they were absolutely amazed at how good the food tasted. The eggs were a perfect consistency, both the scrambled and over easy. Lucas had fried the hash brown perfectly to a golden brown; it tasted better than the stuff at pancake houses.

Most of them were speechless, it seemed that Lucas just couldn't cook a bad dish. In the six months that he had been here, it had been like eating food of a five star restaurant every single night. But this was the first time that he had done breakfast for them, and he didn't fail to amaze.

"…This is incredible!" Gloria said between bites, shooting him a grin. "Lucas, you should do breakfast for us more often."

Lucas chuckled before responding. "Sure, I wouldn't mind. I agree that it's a nice change from cereal every morning."

"You got that right!" The twins both agreed, patting their stomachs satisfied.

Umber beamed at him. "Big brother is such a good chef! Are you going to be a chef when you grow up?"

Lucas smiled at the little girl. "Maybe! Only if you think I am good enough."

Everyone ate their fill and was satisfied, however, Lucas had forgotten the one price of cooking a big breakfast. He had to do the dishes pretty quickly, for school started in under an hour now and he had quite a few dishes to wash. However, both Lily and Esper helped him, so he got done with a few minutes to spare. He grabbed his things out of his room and headed down to walk to school with the girls.

* * *

"Today we will be doing Battle Practice!"

The aggressive voice of Mr. Fisher boomed through the classroom after he had examined his daily lesson plan. The whole class cheered; battle was a class pretty much everyone loved.

"However, today, there is a new twist. The coaches of the varsity Battle team are going to be watching our matches to find talent for the battle team, so instead of battling other Juniors, you will be fighting Seniors to prevent any knowledge of your opponent!"

The class conversed in excitement of fighting new adversaries, this was surely going to be fun. Besides that, most Juniors would love to get back at the Seniors for all the seniority perks they get.

"You hear that, Lucas?" Gardenia asked from behind him.

Turning around, Lucas grinned in excitement. "Yeah, this is going to be really fun. I can't wait to battle!"

With that, Mr. Fisher called the class out of the regular classroom to head to the gymnasium.

* * *

In the gym, the Senior class was already sitting on the home stands, so Lucas and his class went to the away and took their seats. The two classes stared each other down, trying to identify potential threats. It really felt like a serious competition, and Lucas loved that.

Even so, Lucas scanned over the Senior's bench and eventually spotted Esper, Vanessa, and Flannery all sitting together. He waved over to them with a smile, and they each waved back.

Lee nudged him and motioned over towards the far side of the gym where an adult Toxicroak and Breloom stood, both holding clipboards and wearing dark blue collar shirts with the school's insignia on it.

"Those are the coaches." Lee said, "Look good in front of those guys!"

"I see…" Lucas replied thoughtfully.

However, their conversation was interrupted by Mr. Fisher who announced the first matchup.

"The first match will be Pauline from the Seniors vs Abel from the Juniors! Both combatants report to your sides!"

Abel the Absol and his opponent, a Politoed, both reported to their respective sides of the battlefield and prepared for the coming fight. Each class cheered on their classmates, wanting to secure pride and honor over the other.

"An Absol?" The Politoed taunted Abel. "This is going to be easy!"

Growling, Abel seethed back. "You're going down! I won't let you win!"

The clash started, and it raged on for a few minutes, but it was clear who had the advantage, The Absol put up a good fight, but the older Politoed managed to simply overpower him and deal a knock out Brick Break head on.

The Seniors cheered on their victorious classmate as she returned to her bench while Abel was carried away to the clinic.

The contest raged on with the two classes nearly splitting victories, but the Junior class was still one match behind. Notably, Gardenia had KO'd a Sawk in just one hit, Gloria had beaten a Sandslash, though it had been a bit closer, Lily plowed through a Buizel, but Lizzie had lost to a Mawile, and Lee had lost to a Machoke.

Esper had gone up against Lizzie's brother and had defeated him without much of a fight, Flannery had beaten a Levanny from Lucas's class, and Vanessa had lost to a Gloom from the Junior's side.

With only one student left from both sides, Lucas knew that he was up next. If he won the battle, the day would end in a tie between the two classes, but if he lost the Seniors would take victory.

"The final match will be Ivan from the Seniors vs. Lucas from the Juniors! Combatants report to the battlefield!"

"LUCAS! LUCAS! LUCAS!..." Lucas ignored the big chant of encouragement as he got up, nodded to Gardenia, Lily, Gloria, and Lee, who was just back from the clinic, and started to make his way to the battlefield.

Both sides of the stadium were louder than they had been all the day. It was almost deafening to him. As he neared his starting position, he examined his opponent, an Infernape. He looked decently strong, but Lucas knew that the real trouble he would have here is the type disadvantage.

"You can do it, Lucas!"

"Yeah! Lu-cas! Lu-cas!"

However, from the other side of the field, the Seniors were cheering the Infernape on the same way. It seemed that they were pretty confident in their classmate.

For the first time in his life, Lucas actually felt like he was battling on the big stage. It was a strange feeling, especially since this was just a practice battle between him and a schoolmate, but he felt proud to be the one that everyone in his class was relying on. Suddenly, he heard his adversary call out to him.

"So you're the Lucas I've heard about?" The Infernape looked a nervous about battling the Lucario. Ivan had heard of Lucas' skill, and was not going to underestimate him despite his huge type advantage.

"That's right." Lucas replied, taking a battle stance. He recognized the insecurity in the fire-type's voice, this might be easier than he'd originally thought. "Let's give these people a show, yeah?"

"Lets do it!" The Infernape yelled back from across the field. The two stared each other down and waited for the call to action.

"BEGIN!" The voice of Mr. Fisher through a megaphone broke the standoff.

The Infernape decided to go offensive first, to try and prevent Lucas from setting up any attacks. Beginning his trademark opener, Mach Punch, he charged across the battlefield with blinding speed. He was upon the Lucario only a split second after he started the attack, but to Ivan's shock, Lucas dodged at the last second and even tripped him with his legs as he went by.

The whole class gasped in shock, especially the Seniors. None of them had ever seen anybody dodge one of Ivan's opening Mach Punches, let alone counter-attack it.

'What! But how?' The Infernape had never missed an opening Mach Punch, nobody in his whole class could even see it coming. But what he didn't know is that Lucas felt him coming the whole time.

Ivan got up quickly, but turned around to see a Lucario charging him with a bone-shaped staff of light.

Lucas swung the bone at Ivan, forcing him to jump to dodge. Ivan and Lucas exchanged blows in close quarters in a deadlock of Bone Rush and Close Combat until Ivan jumped backwards with a backflip. Immediately upon landing released a star of fire at Lucas; Fire Blast.

The wall of fire was approaching Lucas at such a speed that Gloria thought there was no way that he was going to dodge. But she was not sure if her mind was playing tricks on her when she saw Lucas's eyes were closed. Then, Lucas leaned back and ducked under the Fire Blast, the superheated gas only missed him by a few centimeters.

"Did you see that?" Gloria asked Lily, truly amazed. "Lucas has really gotten better!"

"I wonder how." Lily seemed shocked as well. "He hasn't practiced in almost two weeks."

As Lucas finished his new evasive move, Detect, that he had learned in his Aura training the previous night, he felt the Aura of the Infernape approaching him once again at a great speed. However, this time, Lucas spun out of the way and raked Ivan with a Metal Claw as he passed.

Ivan cried out in pain from where his leg had been scratched, but was not too injuried due to the type deficiency. It did, however, knock him down and open him up to an attack. Lucas turned around and they locked into a close quarters fight once more of Bone Rush vs. Close Combat. However, no matter how many fists Ivan threw at the Lucario, he would block them then counter-strike with the other end of his staff.

This time, Lucas was not going to let him get away. Lucas used Low Sweep and kicked Ivan's legs out from underneath him, hit him one more time with Bone Rush on his way down, then sealed the deal with a Force Palm straight into the floor. Needless to say, Ivan was not getting up after that one.

The whole class gasped at the grace at which Lucas had won this fight with. Most of them had never seen anything like that outside of the professional matches.

"That was…" Lily started, unsure of how to even respond to what she had just witnessed, "That was incredible!"

Gloria didn't know what to say either, Lucas had always been good but this was something completely new. "He never used to be that quick off his feet… how did he manage to dodge those Mach Punches?"

Lily just shrugged and continued staring down at the exhausted-looking Lucario standing at mid-field over the defeated Infernape.

The Junior side erupted into cheers and chants for their combatant, he had secured the draw against the Senior class and really ruined some of their pride.

"Yeah! Lucas is so cool!"

"How about a Lucas fan club this time?"

"Definitely!"

"Lu-cas! Lu-cas! Lu-cas!"

Lucas couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself after that battle. Wiping some of the sweat off his face from the intense concentration he had been in, he realized that without his Aura, he probably wouldn't have won that battle. Some of those attacks that Infernape had used like Mach Punch would have been simply unavoidable.

'Aura sure is powerful.' Lucas thought to himself, 'Even without being able to attack with it, it can still change the tide of the battle.'

Lucas raised a fist in victory towards the Juniors stands as the cheers just intensified, but then he felt a sudden wave of fatigue. The Aura use caught up to him, and he felt everything starting to go black as his knees buckled due to exhaustion.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the stands…

"Did you see that Lucario? That was incredible!" The Toxicroak searched his clipboard for the name of the Pokemon that had just defeated an enemy with two type advantages over him.

"Indeed, that was a sight to behold. He never even got hit." The Breloom watched as Lucas collapsed in exhaustion mid-field and was taken away to the clinic. "We need him on the team. What's his name?"

Scanning the clipboard, the Toxicroak responded. "The only Lucario in the whole school is named Lucas; it says here he's excelled in battles since he arrived at the beginning of this year."

"Find him." The Breloom was surely interested. "He would make a damn good secret weapon. He's new, too, so Fiore won't be expecting him."

"Will do, Brian."

* * *

When Lucas finally woke back up, he did not remember exactly what had happened. Sitting up in his bed and looking around, he saw that he was in a clinic room, and noticed Gloria sitting in the room, reading a magazine. When he sat up, she lifted her head from the magazine and smiled big at him.

"Hey, how you feeling?" Gloria got up from her chair and walked over to sit next to his bed.

"Not too bad…" He smiled at her, "I didn't exactly get knocked out, so just kind of tired."

"Oh yeah, congrats on your win." She put her hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "How did you dodge those attacks? That was incredible!"

Gloria noticed that Lucas got suddenly uncomfortable, and but did not understand why. Lucas was trying to decide whether or not to tell her the truth about his Aura; it was Gloria after all, he could trust her.

But he really wanted to keep it a secret, so he just played dumb. "I don't know, it was just luck I guess."

Gloria didn't seem to believe it. "No way, you did it twice and counter attacked both times. I've never seen you move with such speed. Have you been working out?" She giggled while she felt his exposed arm.

"Umm…" Lucas seemed a little embarrassed to have her in such close proximity to himself, but just responded honestly. "I guess you could say that."

But that wasn't enough for Gloria, she wanted him to tell him how he did it. Suddenly, she got an idea to get him to talk.

Taking Lucas by surprise, she jumped on top of him and pinned him down on the bed, her face only inches away from his.

"Tell me!" She whined, staring him straight in the eyes, satisfied when she saw his reaction. His face was just about as reddest it had ever been. "I saw your eyes were closed when you dodged. How did you do that?"

Lucas, taken completely off guard, was struggling to control himself. Part of him wanted to push her off out of fear for someone walking in, but most of him wanted to snap and do things that he would usually not even think of.

"Tell me!" She said with the kind of smile that Lucas knew was not just a friendly gesture. "Or do you want me to make you?" She added, pursing her lips seductively. Gloria wouldn't normally just jump on top of Lucas like this, but she really wanted to know what he was keeping from her. Plus she admittedly enjoyed it.

He felt his mental barriers start to crumble as her lips start to approach his. Gazing into her eyes, Lucas started to realize that he was caving to his desires. Feeling the last of his resistance snap, he started to move towards her as well. They grew closer and closer until they were only centimeters apart, but something happened that neither of them expected.

As their noses touched, the door swung open loudly, causing them both to jump in surprise and turn awkwardly towards the door.

"Mr. Lucas-" They heard a man's voice cut off suddenly. "Oh, ehh… I'm sorry. I'll wait outside."

The Toxicroak that had opened the door, was needless to say, not expecting what he found in the room. Flustered, he quickly closed the door.

It was just then that Gloria realized the extremely suggestive position that she had put herself in on top of the Lucario, causing her to pale and suddenly jump off Lucas, who was probably more embarrassed than he had ever been before.

Sitting up, Lucas was honestly wondering what he had done to deserve something like that. Breathing deeply to regain control of himself and cool down his face, he couldn't believe that he had almost cracked to her like that. Why couldn't he just keep his composure? If that man hadn't have walked in just then… he didn't really want to think about what would have happened.

He suddenly smirked when he thought of the surprise that that poor guy probably had, Lucas would have to apologize to him later. Looking over at Gloria, whose face was just now cooling down as well, he honestly wondered what had come over her just there.

The Glaceon was too embarrassed at what she had just done to even look the Lucario in the face, so she just spoke off to space.

"Umm… sorry about that, I'm not sure what came over me there." She apologized for her uncharacteristic behavior.

"Its fine." Lucas spoke, rubbing the back of his head, very embarrassed. "Let's just forget it ever happened, okay?"

"Yeah… thanks." She took him into a hug.

Lucas awkwardly hugged back, was it really right for him to do that right after what just happened? He didn't know, but it made him feel really good for some reason.

'What the hell is going on with me?' He thought to himself. 'I've never lost my control like that before.'

Truth be told, he was enjoying the hug more than he probably should as well. After a couple of seconds, though, she let go.

"We should probably go now." She said, glancing over at the clock. "The nurse told me you could leave as soon as you woke up, and its already four, so Vanessa and Flannery will be wanting dinner pretty soon."

"Yeah, lets go." He said, taking her by the hand and leading her out without even thinking about what he was doing, inadvertently causing Gloria's face to heat up once again.

Once outside the room, they found the Toxicroak sitting on the bench. He stood up to his tall height when he noticed them and introduced himself.

"You must be Mr. Lucas?" Lucas nodded to him. "I'm Coach Tom from the battle team."

Lucas smiled as he remembered seeing the dark-type as one of the coaches. He suddenly got hopeful as to what they were going to talk about.

"Coach Brian and I were very impressed with your performance today against that Infernape." Coach Tom continued. "We were honestly not expecting you to win due to the extreme disadvantage you were at, so we were understandably amazed when you won without even being scathed, especially since Ivan, the Infernape, is one of the better battlers currently on our team."

Lucas bowed respectfully. "Thank you, sir."

"Anyway, we would like to invite you to join our team as a walk on." Lucas's jaw dropped. He was expecting the Coach to invite him to try out, not let him walk on. "You showed your skill in that battle, there is no more trying out necessary." Gloria, who was still holding his hand, looked pretty shocked too.

Regaining his composure, Lucas responded thankfully. "Wow, thank you, sir- or I guess coach now."

Tom continued, though his smile turned more apologetic. "Oh, and I would also like to apologize for a few minutes ago…" Lucas felt his face heat up. "I didn't mean to walk in on you and your girlfrie-"

"It's not what it looked like." Lucas suddenly cut him off, not enjoying the ideas he was probably having at what they were doing. "And she's not my girlfriend, but there's really no need to apologize. You didn't mean to." For some reason Lucas felt kind of sad saying that Gloria was not his girlfriend.

'What the hell am I thinking?' he thought, trying to understand that feeling. 'Its not like that… is it?'

Gloria also felt a slight pain in her heart when he said that, but she shrugged it off rather quickly.

"Ah, sorry." Tom said apologetically. "I just assumed because of what happened in there, and your hands…"

It was just then that Lucas realized that he was still holding Gloria's hand and released it, to her disappointment. However, it left her to think about why he had held it in the first place.

'He doesn't… like me? Does he?' Gloria thought to herself with a little smile. But the smile did not last. 'No, I shouldn't get my hopes up like that…'

'Seriously, what is wrong with me?' Lucas wondered to himself, very confused.

"Oh, so it's like that." The Toxicroak suddenly seemed to catch on to what was happening when they awkwardly released each other's hands. A little smirk formed on his face that Lucas really did not like. "Our first practice is tomorrow after school, I'll see you there."

He started to walk off, leaving the two standing together with an uncomfortable air between them. However, he turned around and called back to them.

"And good luck, you two!" Tom wore a big smirk on his face.

"Let's just go." Lucas said, starting to walk the other way towards the exit. Gloria followed along, but she lagged behind a few steps. Lucas had enough for one day.

* * *

Lucas cooked a big lasagna that night, much to the joy of all the Eevee sisters. They had all eaten their fill, and as usual, it tasted incredible. However, Gloria and Lucas couldn't help but exchange awkward glances across the table the whole time, remembering the strange experience today.

Little did they know, though, that a pair of small eyes was taking notice of their little staring contest.

After dinner, Lucas and Esper were doing the dishes. To Lucas's great relief, Esper told him that a family interested in adopting the dog had called. Flannery was not happy about it, but Lucky was going to be picked up by his new family the next day. Lucas would never have to clean one of that dog's messes again.

* * *

After dinner and all the work was done, Lucas returned to his room and began to read once more out of his battle strategy book. He was extremely interested in anything new that he could learn, so it was hard for him to tear his eyes away from the book for anything.

Once it had gotten late, and Lucas felt that all the girl's auras had returned to their rooms , he snuck out again. Making sure that nobody was following him, he snuck along the deserted streets and over to the park.

Sitting down in the same spot he had the previous night, under the large oak tree, he picked up the book and started to read by streetlamp light. Flipping back to a section that he had found interesting during his readings that evening, he re-read the page.

_An important part of battle is to be prepared for anything. Most Pokemon have to learn to read their opponents eyes or out power their opponents. However, using your aura, you can use moves that you would not expect that you would be capable of doing by channeling aura to different parts of your body._

_Try channeling as much aura as you can to your dominant foot, so that it feels as if it is burning with power. Then, attack with a kick._

'Interesting,' Lucas thought while standing up. 'Moves nobody would expect, eh?'

Taking a battle stance under the oak tree, Lucas meditated the same way he did the previous night, though this time, the feeling came much quicker. While he was experiencing the feeling that he now knew was calm mind, he willed the power he felt to his right foot.

Lucas's eyes began to glow blue with power as he felt it surge within him. His heartbeat sped up, his sense of awareness grew, and he started to see in shades of blue.

To his great surprise, his right foot started to feel hot, as if the huge amounts of power there were overwhelming his senses. Looking down with his glowing blue eyes, he saw it burning with bright blue aura, and the blaze was growing.

However, it was then that something that he did not expect happened. The blue fire on his foot turned from aura-like blue to red-orange; real fire.

Suddenly, a panic overcame him: he was on fire! But to his confusion, it did not seem to harm him. It was as if it was the aura in his body that was burning, not his body itself. Remembering what the book had said, he spin around and performed a roundhouse kick on the space in front of him, drawing a line of hot fire across his field of vision.

After the kick was over, he willed the aura levels to stabilize in his body. He released his focus and his vision returned to normal, but that didn't stop the massive grin across his face. He had recognized the attack that he had just performed from his battles against Mr. Blaze, the Blaziken that had kidnapped Lily.

Lucas knew that he had just learned Blaze Kick.

* * *

**Ok, ok. Yes I know that Blaze Kick is actually an Egg move for Lucario, and since we know that his father is a Medicham it should not be possible for him to learn it. But this isn't the game world, is it?**

**Anyway, please review so that I know what you like and do not like and how I can improve. I always take recommendations seriously. I want to thank the guest reviewer that recommended putting in more awkward moments for Lucas, I had honestly forgotten to do that. **

**Well, I hope you enjoyed, and maybe I'll see you next time.**


	4. Chapter 37: The Mediator

**Author's Note**

Hey all, sorry about the 1.5 week waiting period. There is really no excuse for that kind of thing, it just came down to my laziness. I want to continue to get chapters out at least every week. I hope you all forgive me. It wasn't even writer's block, it was just pure laziness and distractions.

Anyhow, let's get on with it, yeah?

Catch up with you at the end of the chapter.

**Disclaimer**

I don't own Pokemon or the original plot of the story; those belong to Nintendo and hellfire15 respectively.

* * *

**I'm Stuck in a House Full of Girls by hellfire15**

**Continued by TrainerJoe**

**Chapter 37: The Mediator**

* * *

'Incredible…' Coach Brian, the Breloom thought as he watched the Lucario he had just met take down two opponents with type advantages at once.

"I've never seen such natural talent without professional training." the other coach, Tom the Toxicroak, commented. "He's a true natural."

Tom and Brian continued to look onto the field, where two of his best senior battlers, Ivan the Infernape and Martin the Marowak, had been defeated by the newest member of the team. They both lay at the feet of a Lucario, who was just down on one knee, panting from exhaustion, but not damage. Lucas had not taken a single hit; even when his two opponents worked together to get a perfect trap on him, he managed to weave through their attacks as if he knew they were coming.

Lucas, though, did not hear the coaches speaking. Tracking two Auras at once throughout the fight had really tired him out. He was too tired to even listen. He groaned as he turned to walk back to the stands. On his way there, though, Coach Brian the Breloom motioned for him to come to him. Lucas walked through the now dying cheers to meet them as the other coach, Tom, went to mid-field where Ivan and Martin were being taken to the clinic.

Lucas reached coach Brian just as Tom started dismissing and thanking the students over a megaphone.

"Can I do something for you, sir?" Lucas asked his coach between pants.

Brian smiled and threw him a cold soaked towel. "Nothing needed. Great work out there."

Lucas wiped the sweat off his face with the towel; some of Ivan's Fire Blasts had been near misses. He nodded appreciatively. "Thank you, sir."

Brian laughed as Lucas wiped his face. "You can call me coach, by the way."

Lucas nodded with a small smile. "Eh, right. Sorry, coach."

"Not a problem!" He then crossed his arms and looked at Lucas. "And I'll never understand how you do that."

Lucas was confused. "What do you mean, coach?"

Brian just shrugged. "Dodge with your eyes closed. It seems like it should be impossible."

"I…" Lucas didn't want to lie to him, but he did not want his Aura abilities disclosed, so he told half the truth. "I don't really understand how I do it. I just focus on where I predict the attack will be and close my eyes to prevent fear from freezing me."

Brian stroked his chin. "Interesting… I never thought of that."

Lucas just shrugged and glanced around as all the students were leaving the bleachers, but he noticed that some of his friends had stayed back and waited for him.

"Well, keep up the great work. First team practice is tomorrow now that we have our boys roster filled. Make sure to be ready."

"Of course, si-" Lucas caught himself. "Coach Brian."

"That's my boy!"

Meanwhile, Lucas's friends had wanted to all wait for him to finish talking to the coach, but most had other things to do now that class was dismissed.

"What do you think is taking him so long?" Vanessa was confused.

Lily just shrugged. "The coach is probably just congratulating him; I mean that battle was awesome!"

Gloria giggled. "You've got that right, it almost seems like he got invincible over spring break! Nobody can even touch him."

"But how?" Flannery wondered aloud.

Lily just laughed at her. "It's not like he'd tell you his secrets, come on!"

But suddenly, Flannery's expression became a smirk at Gloria and Lily. She turned and spoke to Vanessa, but loud enough so that Gloria and Lily could hear. "Maybe I could get him to tell me if I offer him a _reward…_"

Gloria and Lily's faces both heated up in anger at their sister, recognizing the tone in her voice as seductive.

Vanessa caught on to her twin's joke and played along.

"But I wanted to give him a _reward_ for telling me!" she whined, trying to enrage her younger sisters further.

Needless to say, it worked. Esper saw by the extremely angry faces of Lily and Gloria that it was about to get ugly. Fearing a fight, she tried to break it up by getting the twins out of there. When she saw Lily starting to charge a Solarbeam, she knew she had to act immediately.

Thinking fast, she got an idea. "Vanessa, Flannery, didn't you say you had an appointment at the salon?" She spoke loudly to get their attention.

"What?" Flannery asked, confused; but then she got a sudden look of shock on her face. "Oh my gosh! It's in ten minutes! We have to go now!"

Flannery dragged Vanessa away faster than Esper had ever seen either of them move, leaving Gloria and Lily dumbfounded. Esper didn't want to take any chances of a new fight in between Gloria and Lily, so she acted fast.

"Gloria, I'm going to the grocery store after I pick up Umber from school, can I get some help?"

Gloria looked a little disappointed to not stay and wait for Lucas, but did not want to leave all the work to her older sister.

"Okay…" she said, throwing a regretful glance at Lucas, who was still talking to his coach. She began to walk away with Esper, who was relieved to have averted the disaster.

"See ya at home, Lily!" Esper called out to her as they left her to go get Umber.

Even though she knew it was wrong, Lily couldn't help but feel a little happy that Gloria wasn't going to wait for Lucas with her. However, she shook off the feelings quickly. Even the sisters were not letting Lucas see it, they were still in quite the deadlock over him. Lily regretted it greatly, though; she never wanted anything to turn out like this.

It was just then that she saw Lucas's coach turn and walk back towards the locker room, leaving Lucas to look up at her. She waved to him and started the walk down the stairs of the bleachers of the gym.

"Hey, Lily," he said as she walked up to him. "Where did everyone else go?" He looked around for the rest of them.

"Oh," Lily said, "They just had to all go do some things. So that means it's just you and me this afternoon! Also, great battling out there, champ." She giggled at him.

He chuckled at her. "Thanks, it was nothing really." Lucas smiled and wiped his face again with the cold towel coach had given him. "So anyway, what do you want to do this afternoon?"

She just shrugged. "Ice cream sound good? You can tell me more about your battle; I'm interested."

"Sounds good."

"Let's go then!" the Leafeon laughed and led him away by the hand.

"Eh, Lily? You might not want to hold my hand here…" the boy spoke, glancing around at the stragglers still exiting the gym. "Rumors can spread rather quickly, you know."

But Lily just pretended not to hear him with a big smile as she continued to lead him by the hand out of the gym. Lucas just huffed in defeat and allowed it to happen as they walked out of the school, ignoring the stares and points from the students.

* * *

Lucas and Lily reached the ice cream parlor rather quickly, as it was only a few blocks away. The Lucario held the door open for Lily, making her giggle at his gentleman-like actions. Once inside, Lucas inspected his surroundings.

It was a strange room, colored dull pink and beige, giving the room a very childish atmosphere. On the far wall from the door, there was a serving counter where you could order all sorts of sweets; more than Lucas had ever seen before in one place. Otherwise, the room was littered with low tables accompanied by beanbag chairs. However, there were booths lining the walls for those who preferred them. There were only a couple of other people in the store.

Lily began leading him up to the counter to take their order. A lone Pacharisu worked the counter, and Lucas recognized her immediately.

"Look," Lucas said, nudging Lily. He motioned over towards Patch who was scooping ice cream for a different customer.

Lily looked where he pointed, and saw her classmate working behind the counter.

She smiled as she saw the Pacharisu behind the counter. They got in line and waited for the first customer to finish.

"Next, welcome to-" Patch cut off when she saw who it was. "Lily! Lucas!"

The two smiled at her excitement.

"It's so great to see you two!" However, she then noticed that they were still holding hands. She got a confused expression on her face. "Wait, are you two… dating?"

Noticing her gaze on their hands, Lucas quickly let go and tried to explain. "Uh, no!" Lily couldn't help but frown at his quick response. "She was just leading me here. It was crowded outside and I didn't want to get lost."

"Oh, _right…_" Patch said with sarcasm, obviously not buying it due to the smirk on her face. "You're trying to cheat on Gardenia!"

"Wait, what!?" Lily asked, those words giving her a bad fear in her stomach. "Lucas, you're… dating Gardenia?" She bit her lip in fear as she waited for his response.

"What…" Lucas was now becoming frustrated at Patch. "What are you even talking about!?"

Most of the eyes in the store were now on the three after Lucas' outburst. Patch just rolled her eyes, Lily glanced around nervously, and Lucas just made an apologetic gesture. After a couple of seconds everyone went back to their treats.

Lucas turned back to the Pacharisu. "What do you mean 'cheating on Gardenia?'"

Patch just shrugged. "Everyone just kind of assumed you two were dating, after what happened on Monday."

It took him a second to get what she was talking about, but then he remembered the scene she had caused on his first day back when the Gardevoir had hugged him.

"I see…" he began, "It was all a misunderstanding, I assure you."

Lily breathed a sigh of relief at his words.

"So," Patch asked carefully, "Then you're dating Lily?"

"What?" Lucas exclaimed.

"I mean, you came in holding her hand…" Patch just smirked now. Lily could now tell by the tone in Patch's voice, that she was messing with Lucas, but he was not so aware.

"I already told you," he started, annoyed. "It was crowde-"

"Don't bother Lucas." Lily said, both embarrassed and somewhat glad that Patch had mistook them for a couple. "She's just trying to get to you now."

Lucas eyed Patch in frustration, finally noticing her smirk.

"Just give me a Vanilla waffle cone…" Lucas huffed in defeat.

"Sure thing," Patch said, a little too cheerfully for Lucas' liking. "And what will your_ girlfriend _be having?" She made sure to put extra stress on the word.

Lucas just sighed and blushed in embarrassment as he rubbed his eyes and turned to her. "What do you want, Lily?"

Lily spoke, her cheeks tinged red as well. "I'll just have a chocolate waffle cone." She looked at the toppings. "With sprinkles." She added with a grin.

"Sprinkles…" Lucas gave her an odd look. "Isn't that a little… childish?"

"Oh, shut up." She laughed and punched him playfully.

Patch just watched the two with interest while she scooped the vanilla and chocolate ice cream into the cones.

'They're so dating…' she thought with a giggle. 'I wonder if I should tell Gloria tomorrow...'

She handed them the ice cream cones and Lucas pulled out his wallet. He paid the specified amount and handed the chocolate sprinkle cone to Lily while he licked at his own.

"There you go!" Patch handed him the change. "That's awful nice of you to pay for your _girlfriend_…"

Lucas just ignored the jab and rolled his eyes. "Let's go, Lily." He took her hand and began to lead her out the door.

They walked through the store to the exit; Lucas was not planning to stay to eat after the stunt Patch had pulled. Just as they were about to leave, they heard Patch's voice again.

"Thanks for your business, and have fun today… but not too much fun!"

Lucas just gritted his teeth in frustration, but tried not to let it get to him. The Lucario just made a mental note to get her back some day as he stepped back out onto the busy block.

* * *

The walk home had been pretty quiet as the two had been licking their ice cream cones and reflecting on the awfully awkward situation that had occurred only a few minutes before. Lucas had been mostly lost in thought thinking about ways to get back at Patch,

'Hmm…'

He thought hard, trying to remember anything embarrassing about her or anything she really didn't like. But then, it hit him.

'Lee… he knows how to infuriate girls!' The Lucario's smirk grew huge, Lee would know exactly how to get back at the Pacharisu.

The two turned the corner that the Eevee's house was on. Knowing that Gloria would probably be waiting for them, he let go of Lily's hand so not to start a fight between the two. Lily threw him a disappointed, but understanding glance.

The two walked down the driveway together towards the garage. The light automatically turned on when the door opened, sensing the motion. Entering, they closed the door behind them. The two moved to the door leading into the house, but found it locked. Lucas kicked off his shoes and knocked at the door.

Lily and Lucas stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds waiting for someone to come open the door for them, exchanging glances with each other, until something broke the deadlock, but unfortunately it was not someone opening the door.

**Click!**

The automatic light turned off, plunging the room into darkness.

"Wha?" Lucas asked, surprised by the sudden change in lighting. "Lily? What happened?"

The boy heard Lily shuffling around only a meter or two away.

"It's the automatic light." Lily said, flustered. "It only senses motion of the door to outside."

Lucas groped at the wall nearby him while his eyes tried to adjust to the light switch. "Where's the switch?"

"…I don't know where you're standing in relation to it." She said in despair. "Here, I'll try and find it."

"Okay…"

"Keep speaking, so I can follow your voice." Lily called out in the darkness.

"Over here."

She heard his voice to her left, and started a few steps that way. However, before he could speak again, she felt herself bump into something and start to fall over. Both Lucas and Lily tripped after their collision, resulting in her falling on top of him, their lips connected. However, just to their luck, someone finally answered the door. Umber flicked on the light to see something she did not expect.

Umber just stood here, wide eyed and jaw dropped, seeing her sister lip locked with Lucas on the floor of their garage. Both Lily and Lucas quickly separated their faces, but Lily remained on top of the Lucario as they both looked at Umber like Deerling in the headlights while both their faces began to heat up.

The three just stayed like that for a few seconds, Umber frozen in shock at the scene before her. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes, as if trying to understand what she was looking at. When she realized that it was real, she slammed the door and the two heard her footfalls run up the stairs.

Lucas just gently pushed her off of him, and got up; too embarrassed to look her in the face. Lily just remained on the floor in shock of what just happened. Lucas opened the door and looked back at her, his face extremely red.

"Sorry…"

With that, he closed the door and she heard him walk upstairs as well.

'Well Lily, you really messed this up now.' She mentally kicked herself as she got up off the floor.

* * *

Lucas sat in his room for a while, reading his books and trying to forget what had just happened. Thumbing through the pages, he found it rather hard to keep his focus with all the thoughts flooding his head about his situation.

He shook his head and tried to concentrate on his studies, but it was impossible, his mind was already adrift. He gave up with a sigh and pulled out his phone. Opening his pictures, he looked first of one of Gardenia and herself on their day out. He smiled at the memory, it had really been a great day to help him unwind after all the stress of the previous days. Gardenia knew how to calm him down, and due to her abilities, probably knew him better than Lucas knew himself. Lucas knew that she was very trustworthy and loyal, and would go to great lengths to make him happy. Topping it off, she was extremely beautiful, something Lucas couldn't help but notice.

He thumbed over to the next picture: the one of him and Gloria leaning on each other while asleep in Lee's limo. He laughed slightly at the memory, it had been rather embarrassing at first but he later came to see the humor behind it. Looking at her more closely, he couldn't help but crack a grin at Gloria's seemingly endless supply of cheerfulness. Gloria always managed to make him grin, and was probably the sweetest person he knew; not to mention she was very pretty.

He finally swiped the screen again to see a picture of him and Lily at the beach, taken during spring break. The Leafeon had hated him at first, but the two had developed a strong bond after he had saved her. Lucas felt very protective of the girl after all the peril he had seen her in. Even though Lily was the older of the two Eevee sisters, her trauma had made her feel smaller and more timid to him. She was not very outgoing unless you really knew her well, but if you knew her like Lucas did, it was hard to run into a stale conversation. He also had to admit that she was very attractive.

Completely lost in his thoughts, the minutes had flown by and before he knew it, someone was knocking at his door. Glancing over at his clock, it had already been more than an hour since he sat down.

"Come in!" he called.

The door slowly swung open to reveal Umber standing there, looking greatly troubled. She looked Lucas straight in the eye, and Lucas got a bad feeling he knew what this was about.

"C-can we talk again, big brother?" Umber asked carefully.

Lucas smiled warmly at the little girl. "Of course, we can talk about anything you want, whenever you want."

Umber gulped as she sat down on Lucas' bed since he occupied the chair. Lucas saw that there was great mental turmoil inside of her, just like last time. She just looked at the floor for a few moments before looking him in the eye and sighing. Lucas mentally prepared himself for anything she would ask, but he had a guess what it would be about.

"You…" Umber started nervously. "You aren't… two timing my sisters, are you, big brother?"

Once again, her first question caught him off guard.

"Eh?" Lucas blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You know…" Umber shifted in her chair and glanced at the door, as if to make sure nobody was coming. "Like dating the other behind their backs. Cheating."

Lucas still was confused. "Umber… I'm not dating either of them, I don't know what you're talking about."

Umber sighed. "I saw you and Gloria staring at each other during dinner yesterday, but it wasn't a normal or angry stare… It was…" She looked for the right words. "Loving."

"…"

Lucas didn't really know how to respond. He seemed to really consider the words that she spoke to him. Umber, showing surprising maturity, gave him a couple seconds to soak it in, but then continued.

"She told me she likes you, and that made me think you liked her back." The Umbreon sighed as she looked off into the distance, then she looked straight back to him. "Do you?"

Lucas gulped as he thought. "I… I still don't know. I'm really trying to work this out."

"But…" Umber looked almost disappointed in him. "I guess you are secretly dating Lily." Lucas' eyes widened in shock. "So-"

"It was an accident, I promise!" Lucas cut her off, finally realizing that it was all a misunderstanding.

Umber eyed him suspiciously. "Even though I might be little, but I'm not that gullible. I honestly thought you were better than this… Big-" she caught herself. "…Lucas."

That one really hit the Lucario deep. He had really grown attached to Umber as a little sister, and she had just made it obvious that she does not trust him right now. He bit his lip, trying to think of a way to explain what had happened.

Suddenly getting an idea, Lucas got up and walked over to where she was sitting on the bed. Once he got close enough to her, he crouched down to look at her eye to eye. Umber looked past him very sadly, almost crying but refusing to look him in the eye.

"Umber, look." But she ignored him and looked over his shoulder. When she still ignored him, he could start to feel his eyes get wet. "Umber, please…"

The little Umbreon was now starting to cry. "Then… Then why did you sneak out last night?"

Lucas's jaw dropped. "How…"

"I was watching a movie; I heard the front door, then yours." She cut him off, her sad eyes full of mistrust. "You weren't sneaking out to see that other girl… the Gardevoir, were you?"

Lucas looked shocked. "No! Please Umber, you have to trust me!"

"Then tell me. What were you doing?" Umber looked at him expectantly through her sad eyes.

"I…" Lucas was now closer to crying than he had been in a long time. "I can't tell you. Please, you just have to trust me."

"No! Why should I? I won't trust you if you don't trust me enough to tell me why you snuck out!"

Lucas gritted his teeth; he was finally in checkmate. He knew that he had to tell her about his Aura, there were no other options left. If she spread the rumor that he was cheating on all three girls at once, he would lose his job for sure.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he prepared to spill the secret to the last person that he thought he would.

"Ok, Umber. I trust you." She looked a little surprised. "I'll tell you why I snuck out."

Umber nodded, as if to get him to continue.

"As you may or may not know, certain Pokemon are…. gifted; they have the ability to control a special power, Aura. Aura is the energy that we all live off, so we can all technically use it, but only certain species can actually channel and control it."

Umber didn't really understand, but nodded again to egg him on.

"And, it just so happens that Lucarios are one of the species capable of doing so." Lucas reached over to the table and handed her the book that he had been learning out of. "Look." He pointed to the 'Control Your Aura' in the title of the book.

Umber looked a little shocked, but the anger seemed to be disappearing.

"I've been sneaking out to train. I didn't want you guys to know because, well, I guess I thought you would think it's creepy. I can literally feel where you are as long as you are close enough to me." Lucas gulped as he looked at Umber; he had just spilled his biggest secret to a little girl.

The girl seemed to look from the book, back to the Lucario, then off to the distance to think. After a few seconds, she looked back, but there was a different expression on her face. Umber's face softened and her lip quivered, but then she broke out into a huge smile and took Lucas into a big hug.

"I trust you, big brother!" She laughed in glee. "I trust you, and you _are_ my big brother!"

Lucas sighed in huge relief as he hugged the little girl back, disaster averted. He also had to admit that he was really glad that she was calling him big brother again; it really stabbed him inside to hear her refuse to call him that. A huge grin formed on his face and he had a new respect for the little girl.

"Thank you, Umber." He rubbed her back while they embraced. "Thank you."

They stayed that way for a few minutes, both just enjoying the other's company. But when they finally broke, she looked at him with the biggest grin he'd ever seen on her.

"You really are the best big brother ever!"

Lucas just smiled back, but then remembered something. "Oh, and Umber… Please don't tell your sisters about this."

Umber didn't seem to understand why, but just accepted it. "Okay, I'll do it for you, big brother!" But then she thought of something. "But, only if you let me come watch you use your powers, whatever they were called, tonight!"

Lucas was about to protest, but then realized there was really no point since she already knew. "You know what, alright!"

"Really, big brother?" Umber got wide eyed. "Awesome! I get to see big brother use super powers!:

The Lucario just smiled in amusement at his 'little sister'. Glancing over at the clock, he saw that it was starting to near evening.

"Now, how about we go make some dinner?"

* * *

Later that night, Lucas was doing his studies in his room as he usually does. He thumbed through the pages with special excitement tonight, for he had finally reached the first lesson on projection of Aura. He read so fervently and with such interest that time really became a blur.

He read about the proper stances, state of mind, emotions, and much more to the projection of Aura, but also the risks.

"_Aura is, as you already know, the life force you live off of. This is why you have the power to project it; it is literally a part of you. However, you must also understand that this means that you cannot overuse it, for even though Aura Pokemon have especially high levels of the energy, it can be brought into starvation." _

Lucas found the quote to be particularly interesting, but he understood why it was true. Using the Aura outside your body was a lot like removing your blood: in small amounts it was safe and your body will replace it, but removing too much can kill you.

He prepared to turn the page and start another lesson, but he heard someone turn the handle to his door. Lucas glanced up from his books to see the visitor.

"Big brother?" Came the voice from the dark hallway.

"Come in, Umber."

Umber entered into the light of Lucas' room from the darkness of the hallway. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the light, then looked up at him expectantly.

"Are we going to go now? I think my sisters are asleep."

Lucas scratched his chin. "Yeah, I think it's late enough." Glancing over at the clock, most of the sisters would have been asleep half an hour ago.

"Great!" She exclaimed, much to Lucas' horror.

"Shh!" He whispered. "Don't wake them."

"Oh yeah… Sorry."

"Not a problem, let's just get going."

Lucas gathered up the book and two water bottles, since Umber was going to be accompanying him this time. Deciding that the time has come, he used Aura in front of other people for the first time without hiding it.

Lucas turned back to Umber. "Okay, I'm ready, but let's make sure they're all in their rooms."

Umber looked confused at him. "How would we do that?"

Lucas smirked. "Well, you know how your sisters have been saying I've gotten better at battling?"

"Yeah?" Umber responded, recalling Gloria's statements the other day about Lucas's new battling skill. "Is that because of your powers?"

"Yes. It's thanks to my Aura." Lucas closed his eyes. "People say it's like I can see attacks coming from all sides of my body."

Umber raised her eyebrow, how would that be possible? However, it was just then she noticed the smirk on his face.

"Well, they are right."

Suddenly Lucas' eyelids snapped open, but to Umber's shock, his usual ruby eyes were gone. Instead, the dim room was being lit by his now blue, glowing eyes.

Upon seeing them, Umber stumbled back in fear; she had seen Pokemon have glowing eyes when performing attacks, but she never expected Lucas to have them. But it was even stranger when Lucas pointed straight towards her without even turning his head, like he always knew where she was.

'Wait… that's it!' Umber thought. 'This must be how he knows attacks are coming.'

Umber watched as he stood absolutely still, eyes glowing, and fists clenched. It looked like he was using all his effort in concentration; and Umber could almost feel the power coming off of his body.

However, as suddenly as the strange power came into his body, she saw the power leave. He closed his eyes, breathed in deep, then exhaled. When he reopened his eyes, they were back to their normal ruby color.

"All your sisters are in their rooms. I can felt each of them there."

Umber grinned huge. "That was so cool! Let's go watch you practice right now!"

"Shh…." Lucas whispered. "But yes, let's go."

Lucas reached over and picked up his things, put on his shoes, and led Umber out the front door.

* * *

Umber watched in interest as Lucas sat under the tree, legs crossed and hands folded. He did not seem to be moving much, but she could hear his deep and slow breathing.

However, after a few minutes, she started to get bored. On the way over to the park they were at, Lucas had told Umber that she had to be very quiet so that he could concentrate because he was trying to master a new strategy. To fight the boredom, she ripped pieces of grass out of the ground and blew them off of her hand. Even though it had actually only been a few minutes, it had felt like an eternity.

Umber laid back for a moment, admiring the moon. She had always had an interest in the night sky, probably because of her species. Sighing at the moon, she just enjoyed the darkness. To her, it was a lot like a sunny day for grass types.

"Lucas, you almost don-" She cut off as she sat up and glanced over at where he was, but he looked… different.

The glow in his eyes was back, and he was starting to get up. Not wanting to break his focus, Umber stayed absolutely silent and just watched it all unfold.

Meanwhile, the young Lucario stood up and looked over to a nearby tree. Umber noted that he took a very sturdy stance, perfect for performing accurate ranged attacks. However, this surprised her because she had never seen Lucas fight with a ranged attack except Mirror Shot. She saw the Lucario open his eyes suddenly, bring his hands together in front of him, then go through a throwing motion, but nothing came out.

Lucas was very confused, where had he gone wrong? He had used all the steps from the book to throwing your first Aura Sphere, but nothing had happened. However, he was determined. He tried again, but still nothing. Getting frustrated, he sat down in the grass.

"Gah! What am I doing wrong?" He ran his hands over his head.

"Maybe," He heard Umber's voice call out to him. "Maybe you need to meditate first. I couldn't ever do Dark Pulse until Esper taught me how to meditate."

"But I already did!" He said back. "I tried that."

"Well, what do you do to meditate?"

"What?" He turned to look at her, confused. "Why would that matter?"

Umber sounded like she was onto something. "You're not very experienced in using ranged attacks, right?"

"Eh, I guess you could say that."

"Then use a move that helps you focus! A move like-" She started, but was cut off.

"Calm Mind!" Lucas exclaimed. "Umber, that's a great idea!"

Umber smiled back, glad that she was able to help her 'big brother'.

She watched as he took his stance once again, but this time, he stopped and began to breath deeply. After a few seconds his eyes snapped open, but this time, they were not the only part of his body that were blue.

Lucas felt the normal sensation that he would when he used Calm Mind; everything went black, for a few seconds, before the world came crashing back down on top of him. What he was expecting when he got back was Aura vision to be active, but he was not expecting the burning sensation in his hands.

Looking down at them, he saw them burning with Aura as they normally do while in Aura vision, but they felt strange. He looked over and saw Umber with her eyes wide in shock.

Wondering what she was so surprised about, he called to her. "What? You've already seen my eyes glow."

But she just stood there, rubbing her eyes in shock. What she saw was very different from normal. In normal vision, she saw Lucas' whole forearm, especially his hands, as well as his feet, burning with a blue fire-like substance. She did not fully understand what it was, but she could give a pretty good guess.

"B-Big brother! I think you did it!"

"What do you mean?"

"Your hands! They are on fire!"

"My hands are alw-" But then he remembered something. "Wait, you can see that!?"

"Yes! It doesn't hurt does it?" She looked concerned.

"No." He smiled victoriously. "I think this means it worked."

Taking his stance once again, he started to get anxious. He was about to attempt an attack that was a real milestone in the development of every Lucario's skills: Aura Sphere.

Umber watched, excited for what was to come.

"You can do it, Lucas!"

After focusing for a second, he clasped his hands in front of him. While they were together, he willed large amounts of his Aura into his palms and prepared to try to eject it. Ripping his hands apart, it felt almost like they were being pulled back together for a moment, but when he looked down, he saw a glowing blue orb about the size of both his fists combined. He grinned from ear to ear with pride, then hurled it towards the tree. The orb smashed into the tree but punched straight through, burning a hole and careening out the other side.

Time seemed to slow down for Lucas for a second. All his practice over the last few days and all his studying had been leading up to what he just did. It was finally official, he was capable of projecting Aura.

He wanted to jump around and celebrate, but he had to be mature about it. Umber, however, had different ideas.

"Yeah! Great work, big brother! That was awesome!" She ran up to him and gave him a high-five.

Lucas glanced down at the little girl. "You know what, Umber, you're a pretty good teacher." He did a little bow to her. "Thank you for helping me learn Aura Sphere."

"Of course, big brother, but you were so cool!" She jumped around in joy while Lucas chuckled at her hyperactive excitement. "Wait 'till I tell my friends how cool you are!"

Lucas just smiled at her antics as he crouched down and picked up his phone. A check of the time revealed that it was quickly nearing midnight.

Lucas glanced back over to Umber, who was finally calming down. "We need to get home, it's starting to get really late."

The young Umbreon looked a little disappointed, but honored his request.

"Ok, big brother."

Lucas collected his belongings off the ground and started to walk away, when it just hit him that he had destroyed a tree that belonged to the park.

'I'm probably going to have to find a new spot to train…' He thought to himself as the two left the park and began the short walk back home.

* * *

When the two got home, it was already a few minutes past midnight. Lucas had ordered Umber to get to sleep right away, while he stayed in the kitchen and made himself a drink. It only took him a couple of minutes before he had a nice cup of hot chocolate ready for himself.

Taking a sniff of the aroma, he was about to sip at the cup when he heard someone coming down the stairs. Too tired to bother sensing the Aura, he just waited to see who it was.

As he sat down at the table to drink, a tired looking Leafeon walked in. Lily didn't seem to see him at first, but upon scanning the room she noticed him.

"Hey," Lucas started, hoping that the awkward moment between the two earlier today could be forgotten. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Nope." She said with a smile. "What about you?"

"Uh… I had a nightmare." Lucas lied quickly.

"Oh," her expression got sad. "Sorry for bringing it up."

"No problem, really. It seems so silly now." Lucas didn't want Lily to feel bad over something that wasn't even real.

Lily poured herself a water and sat down at the table with Lucas. An awkward silence fell between the two, both thinking about the same, embarrassing experience that had happened that afternoon. Lucas sipped his cup as the two exchanged glances across the table.

However, Lily couldn't take it anymore, so she broke the silence.

"Lucas?" she said, carefully. "I'm sorry about what happened today. I wanted to talk to Umber about it, but she seemed pretty upset with me."

"It's okay." He said, honestly. "It was an accident, and I already explained that to her."

"Good…"

Another awkward silence.

Lucas was surprised; it was uncommon for the two to have trouble conversing. He just blamed it on the weird circumstances that were in play. Giving up, he stood up and turned to the stairs.

"I'm going to go back to sleep, you should probably come too."

He turned to leave, but he heard her follow him. He started up the stairs and she caught up to him. Once at the top, he opened the door for her to her room.

"Goodnight." He told her with a smile. "Sleep well."

"Yeah," She smiled back. "You too."

She turned and walked into the room, starting to close the door behind her. Lucas turned to leave for his own room, but he was cut off by her voice.

"Oh, and Lucas? Can you take this with you?"

"Sure-" He started to turn around, but was cut off with a kiss on the lips. It wasn't long, though. Lily broke and retreated into her room after only a couple of seconds.

Lucas just stood there in shock for a second, his head flooded with thoughts. Part of his brain wanted her, but part wanted another. It resulted in his mind just reeling and unwinding until he shook himself back to his senses.

He started back to his room, his mind a cluttered mess of emotion and memories.

Lucas laid down in his bed that night with a lot to think and dream about. His thoughts danced from Lily, to Gardenia, to Gloria, to his Aura, to the Battle Team….

Before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

* * *

**Before you do anything, smack that review box over there and tell me what you thought. I value your input hugely, both for inspirational and motivational reasons. Also, if you have an idea for the story, feel free to PM me. I pretty much have the story planned out, but If you're interested in seeing certain things, I'd be interested to know.**

**So yeah, this chapter was very Lucas x Lily. Don't worry though, fans of the other two, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. There will be chapters highlighting each of the girls, so no fear.**

**I'm also using Umber quite a bit; I always think that a 'little sister' like character is interesting to write about.**

**Hey! Want to beta read for me? PLEASE? (Well, not quite like that, but I could use one, just if you're interested.)**

**Once again, I apologize for the abnomally long wait, 12 days or whereabouts is ridiculous, I will never do that again without good reason. Updates should come within a week.**

**By the way, what has kept me distracted has been roleplaying on Pokemon Showdown, It's almost like dynamic fanfiction. I play there under the name Guile (Gallade), (Yeah, inspired by the one in this story). Come hang out sometimes!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and maybe I'll see you next time!**


	5. PSA and Update Date

Hey all.

No, I'm not dead. No, this is not an update. Sorry. What it is is a PSA. I just want to say that I will continue the story, but I have really been getting very busy in real life.

That is, however, no excuse for over a month of delay. So please forgive me. Hang in there for one more week, I'll be out of school then and have lots of time to write.

I hope you understand and that a set date makes it easier to wait.

Thanks,

TrainerJoe


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